Following a push from Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell, a Metro councilman plans to defer his non-binding resolution that would ask the state for a moratorium over opening new charter schools in Nashville.

“I got a phone call — I won’t tell you from who — asking me to meet with the speaker, and I said I would do that, and we’ll chat about this stuff,” said Councilman Steve Glover, who proposed the measure.

His decision came after Harwell had apparently worked to defeat the legislation, which goes before the council on Tuesday.

Two conservative council members confirmed receiving phone calls from Harwell last week in which she encouraged them to vote against the resolution. Its passage would have requested Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman for a charter moratorium in Nashville until Metro’s revenue projections “improve substantially” or it finds ways to improve its budget outlook.

“She brought up the topic of the non-binding resolution, that it just basically gives us some bad press,” Councilman Robert Duvall said.

It’s virtually unheard of for the state’s speaker of the House to weigh in on matters before Nashville’s city hall — especially on a resolution that carries no policy effect.

Nashville’s other leading charter proponent, Mayor Karl Dean, also came out against the resolution, ending what had been a policy to not weigh in on non-binding resolutions.

“While we appreciate the need for fiscally responsibility, the charter schools’ budget is roughly 5 percent of the overall Metro Schools’ operating budget,” Dean’s spokeswoman Bonna Johnson said. “Yet charter schools have produced some of our highest gains in recent years.

“Why would anyone want to put a moratorium on the very type of school that is serving students so well?”

A vote on Glover’s resolution would have put the city’s 40 council members on the spot, forcing them to take a side in an ongoing torrid debate over charter school costs.

Charter advocates had hoped to defeat the resolution. Late last week, the Tennessee Charter School Center tapped veteran lobbyist James Weaver to lead that effort.

Before the council meets on Tuesday, the Metro school board’s Budget and Finance Committee will convene that afternoon. Director of Schools Jessee Register’s administration is expected to continue to make its case that growth of charter schools is draining funds from the district.

Not everyone, however, buys that case. As a result, even items as seemingly inconsequential as a non-binding memorializing resolution are causing a stir.

“I’ve been around state and local government for 20 years,” said the board’s Will Pinkston, who is leading the charter-cost argument. “I’ve never seen a House speaker lobby a city council on a local issue or a mayor turn a deaf ear to state education funding inadequacies. It’s pretty bizarre.”